[Scene Metalia's inferno. A pair of glowing blades appear in Kunzite's hands]
Kunzite: I CAN'T TAKE THIS! I'M GOING OUT THERE TO KILL THOSE TWO LITTLE MONSTERS ONCE AND FOR ALL!
Metalia: Without magic? Against thousands of armed youma?
Kunzite: YES!
Metalia: Oh great. My idiot son is going berserk again.
Kunzite: I AM KUNZITE! SOVEREIGN OF THE EARTH, SUPREME RULER THE DARK KINGDOM, AND FIRSTBORN SON OF METALIA! I WILL NOT ALLOW HER TO BE MENACED BY A PAIR OF FIFTH GRADERS!
Metalia: [oddly touched] You care about me that much?
Kunzite: OF COURSE I DO!
Metalia: You know, I was going to let the Death Phantom kill you. I told your brothers I was bluffing, but I wasn't. I would have watched you die and felt absolutely nothing, except for the satisfaction that I'd cheated that old windbag out of what he really wanted.
Kunzite: OF COURSE I KNEW THAT! I KNOW YOU BETTER THAN ANYONE!
Metalia: [touched] In spite of that you still want to protect me?
Kunzite: LOVE ISN'T SOMETHING THAT IS EARNED! IT IS SOMETHING THAT IS GIVEN!
[Metalia thinks about this]
Metalia: This...love...I have never felt it. I've watched it make fools of people and considered myself lucky, but maybe there is something to it...Do you love me more than your monkey?
Kunzite: DON'T BRING ZOISITE INTO THIS!
Metalia: Answer the question.
Kunzite: YOU ARE MY MOTHER AND HE IS MY HUSBAND! THE FEELINGS ARE COMPLETELY UNRELATED!
Metalia: But if you have to choose...?
Kunzite: IF YOU MAKE ME CHOOSE I WILL CHOOSE HIM!
Metalia: You admit that?
Kunzite: YES MOTHER! HE IS THE ONLY SOURCE OF HAPPINESS IN MY LIFE! IF YOU TOOK THAT AWAY, IT WOULD SOUR THINGS BETWEEN US FOREVER!
Metalia: Huh.
[Meanwhile, at Seattle General. Mamoru has his face in his hands and is rocking in his hospital bed.]
Rei: Look, I'm not trying to be a bitch or anything, but we're running out of time. Artie wants me to tell you that if we're to save the world, we need to get moving.
Ami: [looks up from her handheld] We should try this without him. There is a .59 probability that Selenity's teleportation factor was linked to her essence rather than her powers.
Usagi: Just a minute. [Sits on the edge of Mamoru's bed and clasps his hand] Can't you see how much he is hurting? I'm not leaving him like this.
Makoto: [looking out the window at the green maelstrom] Hurry. A storm is coming. I feel it.
Minako: [Looking in her compact] Let her speak. Artie said we still have time.
Usagi: [holding Mamoru and stroking his hair] Please, Mamoru. You have the heart of a hero. You're going to help us, whether we need you or not. Not as a favor. Because it is the right thing to do. For you and for everyone else.
Mamoru: [panicked] I know that. You think I don't know that? You don't understand. I can't work for the same side as Beryl. I can't. Not against a pair of kids she's probably tortured since infancy.
Ami: What indication is there that they've been tortured?
Mamoru: They're traveling through time to kill their mother so she can't give birth to them. They've been tortured!
Usagi: We're not doing this to help Beryl. We're doing it to help everyone else. Especially those kids.
[Mamoru shakes his head in derision.]
Rei: Enough with the kumbuya. We need to go.
Usagi: Rei. Stop being so mean! [To Mamoru] I mean it. What they are doing will destroy them. There has to be a better way-
Mamoru: What if there isn't? We don't know them, what right do you have to judge them like that? What if they need to die to keep from growing up into evil monsters like their mother? Why should we mettle when we don't even know who they are or what they've been thorough?
Usagi: Because, just like you said, evil is a choice. If they chose to be good, they can be good. It might not come as easily to them as it does for us, but nobody is beyond redemption. Not them, not Beryl, not even Metalia-
Mamoru: [even more frantic] You sound like you did back in the Silver Millennium. Right before Beryl killed you.
Usagi: Beryl's different now. They all are. I've seen them change, especially Kunzite. He is different now that he has Zoi. I don't think he enjoys being evil anymore-
Mamoru: Zoi threw a spear through me and laughed while I was dying. I don't think it was Kunzite who changed!
Minako: Look. I hate to break up such a tender moment, but Artie said time's up. We need to get moving. [closes the compact] Everyone link hands. We'll try this without Mamoru.
Mamoru: No... I'll help...just not willingly.
[Mamoru and the girls all join hands]
Minako: Rei, you will need to guide us.
Rei: Artemis said the twins are in a magic free zone. I'll get us as close as I can, but then we will have to run.
Mamoru: [Pulls his hands away in a panic attack] I can't do this.
Minako: You have to.
Mamoru: I know...Just...Grab my hands!
[Usagi and Minako seize Mamoru's wrists]
Rei: Ready?
[They close their eyes and concentrate, only to be interrupted by a knock on the door.]
Nurse: Time for some meds.
Mamoru: Oh. Thank god.
[The nurse wheels a metal cart in and prepares a syringe]
Minako: Sorry, but now is not a good time. Could you maybe come back in an hour?
Nurse: [not even pausing] If you can get his surgeon to sign off on it.
Mamoru: No. Let her medicate me. This will go lot smoother if I'm sedated.
[The nurse pokes the needle into Mamoru's IV line]
Nurse: This is going to feel all warm and tingly.
[Almost at once Mamoru's face goes chalk white and he stares straight ahead in absolute shock.]
Nurse: Mamoru? Are you ok?
[Mamoru doesn't answer, but keeps staring straight ahead, a choking noise forming in his throat. His vitals are going haywire on the monitors]
[The nurse pulls the needle from the IV line]
Nurse: Mamoru?
[He keeps staring straight ahead]
[The others turn to see a tall and elegantly dressed young redhead in the doorway]
Beryl: Mr. Chiba. Would you mind if I ask you some questions about the attack at the hotel?